Just two weeks ago, I was up in the mountains of northern New Mexico, participating in an ancient ceremony that goes back at least 10,000 years.

Along with about 40 other parciantes and volunteers, I helped cleaned out the acequia madre of the Acequia de la Joya in Mora County.

The acequia system of agriculture goes back 10,000 years, to Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan.

In the 8th Century, the Moors introduced acequias to Andalucía; and in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Spaniards introduced acequias to the Americas, which is how they arrived in New Mexico.

What’s unique about maintaining a successful acequia system is that it requires total community involvement. Everyone who uses irrigation water must show up on the appointed day, shovel in hand, to clean out the acequia madre. For those of you who don’t know the term, the acequia madre is the main irrigation channel that carries water from the river to the fields. Without a functioning acequia madre, no one’s field receives water.

Working together to maintain the acequia madre wasn’t and isn’t just a nice thing to do. It was—and remains—critical to the very survival of the village.

In the same way, the art of Flamenco grew out of the unique interplay of native Andalucian, Islamic, Sephardic and Gypsy cultures in Andalucía. And like the acequia system, flamenco found its way into our corner of the world.

This festival has become a great source of pride to all of us here in New Mexico and across the US.

Thanks to the vision, the sweat, the tears and the hard work of Eva and so many other supporters, this festival has become one of the top flamenco festivals in the world.

What you will witness tonight is world-class performance.

How do we know this?

We know this first, because our senses and our very beings will tell us this is world class during the performance itself.

But we also know this because the Spanish government has declared this festival to be one of the premier festivals in the world.

We know this because the top flamenco artists in the world clamor to come to Albuquerque every June to be a part of this event.

We know this because people from across the US, Mexico and Latin America arrive every June to see these amazing performances.

So here we are, with this treasure of an art form thriving in our little corner of the world and faced with the challenge of ensuring it continues far into the future.

Like the acequia madre, the Festival Flamenco brings the nurturing waters of high flamenco art into our community, so that our children can see beauty personified on stage and become inspired to embrace their heritage and celebrate their humanity.

But like the acequia madre, to keep the waters of flamenco art flowing, we each need to bring our shovels on the appointed day and help ensure that our community continues to nourish this vibrant performance form.

The truth is, if we sold every single ticket to every single performance at the highest ticket prices, we would still not cover the artistic fees for our world-class performers.

So on behalf of the festival, for the sake of our children and our community, I simply want to ask each to you to find a way to keep this wonderful festival alive.

If you can give one dollar extra; if you can volunteer; if you can convince your mother-in-law to come see the show and act pleased to be sitting beside her, we need your help.

We need your help.